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"Richly drawn stories about the lives of ordinary families in contemporary Botswana as they navigate love, relationships, tradition, caretaking and grieving in a rapidly changing world. A young widow who for a nearly a year wears mourning clothes in part as a warning to those who believe the old superstitions about bad luck following--even though she's unsure what the traditions mean or whether she is ready to meet the world without their protection. A girl who blossoms into womanhood as her once vibrant aunt lays dying in the room next to hers, torn by familial obligation and her growing desire for independence. An older sister who returns home from a confusing time in America only to explain at every turn why she's left the land of opportunity. A younger sister hiding her sexual exploits from her family while her older brother openly flaunts his infidelity. The stories collected in CALL AND RESPONSE introduce women whose desires and obligations will be achingly familiar and who anchored to a place that's new in fiction - in the village of Serowe, where the author is from, and in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. The protagonists here chart the emotional journeys of seeking love and opportunity beyond the barriers of tradition and circumstance. Suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, Gothataone Moeng--part of a new generation of writers coming out of Africa whose voices are ready to explode onto the literary scene in the West--explores the inherent clashes between tradition and modernity, ancestral expectations and imported dreams. In the tradition of writers like Chimamanda Adiche and Jhumpa Lahiri, her work offers us insight into communities, experiences and landscapes that have been underexplored, through stories that are cinematic in their sweep, with unforgettable female protagonists"--… (more)
User reviews
The stories in this collection are all set in Botswana, most in
Every winter, Mrs. Botho Kennekae's husband took time off from his driving job in the city and spent three weeks at the cattle-post, where he did whatever men did there--presumably off the softness they withheld from everyone to their cattle, for the cattle were the great loves of their lives, so beloved the men called them wet-nosed gods, so beloved the men agreed: without cattle, a man pined and lost his sleep; still, having cattle, a man fretted and lost his sleep.
Moeng writes well, but where she shines is in her character studies. From an earnest young man trying to avoid any sinful activity, to a lonely married woman who may not have told her family the truth about her life in Gabarone, all of Moeng's characters are wonderfully complex and full of life. I really enjoyed this peek into a place I know very little about.